Wednesday, September 3, 2014

B1G Recap Week 1

We laughed, we drank, we ate linked meats, we won.

Here's a look at what happened last week in the rest of the Big Ten.

Rutgers not Buttgers

I like Rutgers' shiny helmets quite a bit, so they are my favorite B1G newcomer. The Scarlet Knights were +8 going into this game, but got a touchdown from senior running back Paul James with 4 minutes left to claim victory over Washington State, 41-38. James racked up 173 yards and 3 TDs on the ground and QB Gary Champagne Super Nova threw for 281 and 2 more TDs. Washington St QB Connor Halliday threw for a whopping 532 yards and 5 TDs, but it wasn't enough. Here are a couple of my favorite comments from the Yahoo! scoreboard:

G said: "41 points to Rutgers? Wazzu is going to give up 100 to Oregon. Seriously, where is the defense?"

You Got to Be Kidding Me said: "Glad RU won but their secondary is GARBAGE. The last 10 years the
secondary has been a strong point on the RU D.. They were horrible last
year and they were horrible in this game.. This game should have been a
blowout for RU. Granted Washington St QB is good but the yards after the
catch was ridiculous. Horrible horrible horrible arm tackling."

MSU Gave Up Points to Jacksonville State

While it was nice to see my body twin on the field for Jacksonville State, they were no match for Sparty en route to a 45-7 beating. Former Gopher Max Shortell got most of the snaps at QB for Jax and threw the lone TD; a nine yard strike to Markis Merrill. Just about every player on the MSU roster got a rush or a pass or took some time at QB. Junior WR Tony Lippett caught four balls for 167 yards and 2 scores. On to the Yahoo! comments:

Douglas said: "Heard all week that Jacksonville State has an offense like Oregon. If that's true, Oregon should be worried."

Anthony said: "Solid game for Sparty. Lots of good on both sides of the ball. A few
things to work on. Sparty will be ready for a little roast duck next
weekend! Go Green."

ABeezy said: "I like Jax State here +34. They are a hungry team, and will come out ready to compete (but still lose by 24-27 points)." [oops]

Fan™ said: "Kudos to Jacksonville St for travelling North of the Mason Dixon Line to
face a good football team in their own stadium. Something that most SEC
schools are afraid to do." [Yes, so bold of JSU]

Penn State Sneaks by Central Flo Rida

Penn State played in Dublin to piss off Notre Dame and won on a field goal with 17 seconds remaining, 26-24. Sophomore QB Christian Hackenburg threw for 454 yards; most of it to the duo of Geno Lewis (173) and DaeSean Hamilton (165). This was good, because PSU's running game never got going as they amassed just 57 yards on 28 total carries.

Just one insane comment from Bill N: "The pride of Penn State Jerry Sandusky got a smile watching the game.
Finko Harris and his angry mob was re energized to hunt PSU employee's
who helped bring down the ( SIGG!) The Silence is golden group lead by
Paterno, Snadusky Spanier Curley and Shultcz all enjoyed the game.
Either watching it their million dollar homes, or in hell, or even if
the 60 plasma tv on the protecve custody unit in the prison. The only
thing that will change is Jerry will so have his buddies Spanier,
Curley, and Shultcz join him watching that TV."

Pete the Penguin Nearly Brings the Noise

The Illini score two touchdowns in the last 8 minutes to beat Youngstown St, 28-17. Sophomore QB Wes Lunt threw for 285 yards and 4 TDs. This play didn't do Youngstown any favors:

Punt in the rear.

Jeff said: "First half and Illinois has been out played, If this was a big 10 game
they would be getting blown out. A very poor showing up to half time.
I guess we will see what the Illini are made of in the second half. Do
they finish strong, or continue to show they're a mediocre team. I
wouldn't want to be in that half time locker room."

Larry Bird is Not Walking Through That Door

And even if he did, he wasn't a football player, so the point is moot. Junior Tevin Coleman ran for 247 yards and 2 TDs and Senior D'Angelo Roberts added another 129 on the ground as Indiana pasted the Sycamores, 28-10.

John said: "Total dominance by IU except for those three red zone stops. Dubious
decisions and calls there, and the passing game needs work. But this
score may lure some IU future opponents into complacency."

Don't wake the sleeping dragon that is IU!

Hawkeyes Cage Panthers (GET IT?)

When these two teams get together you can throw the records right out the window! Cliche Bomb!

UNI exposed some weaknesses, but didn't have enough against the Hawkeyes, falling 31-23. This despite Junior Sawyer Kollmorgen throwing for 380 yards and 2 TDs. It was an inefficient performance though as he was 17-37. Kollmorgen sounds like he's probably a highlander, so don't rag on him too much or he'll decapitate your ass. 203 of those yards through the air belonged to RB David Johnson. Johnson laid a steamer rushing, but that's some serious damage receiving out of the backfield. (Berkley Alert!) Iowa spread the ball around quite a bit and Jake Rudock was a very efficient 31-41 for 250 yards passing.

A B said: "Iowa defense is horrendous. Might as well just have linebackers sit on the bench...they'd be just as effective"

Erik said: "Iowa struggling against a good 1-AA UNI team. Looks like another 8-4
season complete with mediocre bowl game against a weak schedule. Go
Hawks!"

R W said: "There's no doubt they are playing in Iowa City, first half Northern
Iowa has 10 questionable penalties and Iowa has zero. Done nothing
wrong, perfect angels. Why don't the refs just go ahead and change into
their black and gold uniforms."

Appalachian State Magic is Gone

Michigan pounded App St 52-14 behind the arm of Devin Gardner and the legs of Derrick Green. Gardner was particularly impressive, going 13-14 passing for 173 yards and 3 TDs. Wide receiver Devin Funchess was the recipient of all three TD passes including the above where he stuffs a poor defender into the turf.

Lt. Libiot said: "Why did the Yu-na-verss-ity of McChicken wait all these years for a
re-match ... and why did they have to have home field advantage?

Pathetic beyond words."

Schuyler said: "well................. at least you boys finally beat Appalachian.. who
knows - you could finish in the top four of the Big whatever it is"

Purdidn't Lose at Least

Jarvion Franklin and Frankie Williams of Western Michigan stuck it to the Boilermakers repeatedly, but in the end they were overwhelmed by an underwhelming Purdue squad, 43-34. Raheem Mostert and Akeem Hunt (above) were formidable in the running game.

Bob said: "Agree PhillipD. WM is 10th in the MAC. Purdue is going to get
clobbered all year long. 467 yards of offense against Purdue's D is
pathetic. Purdue continues to demonstrate that they are playing at a
much lower level than the Big 10. Maybe that's the reason there are now
14 teams in the Big 10. Some old teams may fall by the wayside."

Navy Passed 4 Times

Braxton-less Ohio State played it fairly close to the vest with QB J.T. Barrett at the helm, but scored two unanswered TDs in the final 9 minutes to win it 34-17. Navy had a kick-ass 63:4 rushing:passing plays split and mustered 370 yards on the ground at 5.9 ypc.

Barrett held his own, keeping the passes short mostly and letting the receivers do the heavy lifting; going 12-15 for 226 yards and 2 TDs/1 INT. He also led the Buckeyes in rushing, carrying 9 times for 50 yards.

SBLDLL1006 said: "The first half looked really shaky, but this game went almost exactly as
I expected. Close for three quarters with the superior talent of the
Buckeyes overwhelming Navy over the full 60 minutes. Not perfect by any
stretch of the imagination, but a decent game to build on with so many
new faces."

Ron said: "A quarterback who had to step in 12 days, who also being a Freshman, had
never taken a snap in college football. Rebuilding the O and D
lines........they did excellent today. It has to improve quickly for
their schedule but good job today, Navy is no slouch. I"m from
Ohio State, and Oh How I Hate Michigan! Wolverine also known as the
Skunk Bear and it should be." [LOL, skunk bear]

Steve B said: "Navy don't have a player on the field over 300lbs and OSU's defensive front are getting man handled."

Maryland Desecrates Corpse of James Madison

The Turtle spread it around and trounced James Madison, 52-7. Their uniforms are still terrible.

FAU Suffers Death by 784 Yards

Nebraska resorted to trick catches out of sheer boredom as they slap around Florida Atlantic to the tune of 55-7. Dual threat QB Tommy Armstrong Jr. doesn't throw like T-Magic, so they have to feel good about that. Ameer Abdullah racked up 232 yards on 21 carries. Anyone dub him the AmeerKat yet? Let's do it.

USA said: "No matter that the opponent was FAU you have to be impressed, Nebraska
just kept coming with weapons from everywhere, this was like watching
the old Huskers of 20-25 years ago and it shows some promise. If they
play like this every week, nothing will stop them but themselves."

Bears>>>Wildcats

NW took the first two and a half quarters off and ran out of time to come back, losing 31-24. Jared Goff outplayed Trevor Siemian, throwing for 281 yards and 3 TDs. Northwestern was driving late for the tie, but a sack followed by an interception off tipped pass sealed it. Both plays were made by linebacker Jalen Jefferson.

Al K said: "Is there anybody left in the country who still thinks Pat Fitzgerald is a
good coach? Another time out burned on 4th down due to indecision. The
guy has not improved at game-day coaching in the 8+ years he's been at
NU. This is supposedly the most talented team in NU history, based on
recruiting rankings (such as they are) and we'll be lucky if we win 4
games this year."

Rotten Arsenal said: "NW spent too much time trying to get a Union and not enough time learning how to play football."

Wisconsin Loses 4th Quarter 15-0

It looked like we were going to get a heavy dose of Tito Ortiz style ground and pound from Wisconsin, but then LSU went in for the submission in the 4th round. LSU held on after the INT (above) to win it 28-24. QB Tanner McEvoy had a cool 34.2 QB rating, going 8-24 with 2 interceptions. RB Melvin Gordon's 140 yards rushing accounted for nearly half of the entire Wisconsin offensive output. LSU QB Anthony Jennings only completed 9 passes, but it got him 239 yards and 2 touchdowns.

icky said: "Wisconsin football is at an all time low. Gary Andersen is a terrible
coach and a horrid recruiter. He lost at least 6 close recruits and his
play calling by his staff is ridiculous. the punter is so embarrassing
I can't even bring words to describe it and McEvoy could not make my
high school team as QB, maybe not even my 8th grade team. This guy is
an abortion at QB and Stave sucks too. the Badgers are in deep trouble
and need a new coaching staff and a new start. It is going to take a
decade.... Barry Alvarez needs to go as well"

Rod said: "Wisconsin was out coached, out played, and out footballed. What a
pathetic secondary we have, what a pathetic quarterback we have, what a
pathetic quarterback coach we have. Since when did quarterback coaches
teach a division 1 school quarterback to constantly throw off your back
foot or to even jump in the air and throw the ball. Pathetic. Our head
coach admitted he doesn't even keep a little close count on how many
times our backs are even running the ball. Pathetic. We will be lucky
to win half our games this year. This is what happens when Wisconsin
plays a half decent team outside our conference. They lose every single
time."

greg said: "Wisconsin fan here and it was hard watching the second half. We were
totally outcoached. Why didn't we run the ball more with Gordon? Our
weakness at quarterback exposed again. Outside of Russell Wilson for one
year. we haven't had a decent quarterback in years. Why can't they
recruit a quarterback that can consistently make plays and lead this
team? Our receivers are young and confused and our defensive line is
small with a lot of question marks. Wisconsin in need of help on both
sides of the ball. At best this team will win 5-6 games."